The younger sister couldn’t relax, however. She grabbed Cassandra’s hand.
“Big Sister, how come you’re here? Who was that woman, and how…how did you become a concubine, of all things?”
Cassandra took a deep breath. She understood Missandra’s concerns, but it was time she explained everything. From the first time she was bought and sent to work for her first master, up until her meeting with the Prince, and everything that had happened afterward. Cassandra told her sister everything.
A servant had brought them two cups of tea, but neither of the sisters touched it. They were too absorbed in their conversation, trying to patch together the pieces of their past. When Cassandra finally arrived at the present, Missandra was crying.
“I…I can’t believe you’ve been through all of that. A slave! I…I thought you might have been freed, like me. You’re so much smarter, and…educated. I hoped you’d found a good man and married early…”
As she talked, she kept glancing over all of the scars on Cassandra’s body, her lips trembling. The concubine was so used to seeing all those scars, she didn’t care much about them anymore. They had healed long ago, and even her Prince never reminded her about her damaged body.
However, for Missandra, this was the brutal vision of her sister’s hardships. She felt almost ashamed of her own body, spotless and well-nourished.
“Missandra, what happened to you? I told you what we heard, but…I need to know.”
The younger sister nodded, trying to wipe her tears away.
“It’s mostly as you heard. I was…sold right after you, to a brothel. Until I was thirteen, they simply trained us, groomed us to be beautiful and seduce men. I had my first customer when I was thirteen, but I wasn’t tamed. I didn’t want to lay and be a toy for them to play with. So whenever I could, I would rebel, cause a ruckus, and make sure I was locked away from the customers for a while. I stole as much money as I could without being noticed. I had intended on buying myself out of slavery, but I didn’t think someone would pay my debt for me.”
“Was that…the husband they mentioned?”
Missandra nodded.
“A good man, actually. He was a scholar’s son. We got along because he was smart, my favorite customer. With the money he borrowed from his family, he convinced my last workplace to sell me to him, and he bought my freedom. Marrying him was part of the deal, but I didn’t mind.”
“What happened then?”
“His father got mad when he learned what I…that I was a former slave and prostitute. He chased both of us. I wanted us to just go and buy a house, but he kept wanting to go back and convince his family. He went there four times and…the last time, he didn’t come back. I thought he had abandoned me, but then I learned one of his father’s concubine’s sons had killed him. So I never appeared in front of his family again.”
“So that’s when you decided to open your shop?”
“Exactly. Truth is, I thought many times about leaving the Capital, but…I’ve been here since I was seven. I wouldn’t even know where to go.”
Cassandra let out a long sigh, disheartened. She was glad Missandra hadn’t suffered too many hardships, but it didn’t take anything from her pain as an older sister to hear that she had been made a sex slave.
“I am so glad we are together now,” she said.
“I still do not trust those people,” replied Missandra with a frown. “They are murderers, big sister! They won’t hesitate to murder their own blood!”
“Missandra, I promise he’s different.”
Her younger sister shook her head in disbelief.
“They take as many concubines as they want, they toy with them, and they throw them away like trash! Do you know how many times I’ve seen this, in the Red District? Some women are dying to be made concubines, and then a few months later, we find their bodies outside of the gates!”
“I am his only concubine.”
“He probably killed the previous ones.”
Cassandra stayed silent. Sadly, that was the truth… She had been aware of it since long ago, from her first time at the Onyx Castle. Kairen hated the women thrown at him by his brothers or father and had killed them without thinking twice.
However, she still knew she was different.
“We can leave, Cassandra,” insisted her sister. “We can leave and have a normal life, just the two of us. As commoners, away from the Capital!”
Cassandra was about to reply, but rushing steps came from the outside. Dahlia, who had been waiting outside, walked in and opened the door wide for the War God to come in.
Immediately, both sisters stood up, each with a different expression on. Cassandra walked up to him, and Kairen naturally put his arm around her waist, while staring at Missandra. The younger sister had a ferocious look in her eyes, and her hand on her dagger’s handle, ready to take it out.